Trump monitors Harvey from Camp David, praises government response

President Trump said Saturday that he's closely monitoring Hurricane Harvey as it moves deeper into Texas and praised the government’s response to the powerful storm and its potential for deadly flooding.

“Closely monitoring #HurricaneHarvey from Camp David,” Trump tweeted. “We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!”

Harvey was a Category 4 hurricane late Friday before hitting the Texas Gulf Coast.

On Saturday afternoon, Trump held a video teleconference with Cabinet officials to discuss the “response and recovery” to the storm, the White House said.

“President Trump emphasized his expectations that all departments and agencies stay fully engaged and positioned to support his number one priority of saving lives,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said. “He reminded his team that the full impacts of this storm will occur over the next few days with heavy rains and flooding.”

The storm, the biggest in a decade to hit the U.S. mainland, was downgraded Saturday to a Category 1 hurricane and then to a tropical storm, as it moves northwest, producing heavy rain and 80 mph winds.

“We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey. So far, so good!” Trump said.

In the same tweet, he also told Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that he got the Iowa Republican’s message “loud and clear,” a reference to Grassley’s warning Trump on Friday not to repeat the mistake of President Bush in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina.